Abstract : Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has become involved in a variety of operations other than war, ranging from small-scale disaster relief and humanitarian assistance missions to large-scale peace enforcement missions. Such missions have proven inherently ambiguous and often risky, particularly when the threat of civilian casualties and collateral damage has constrained the use of force. Non-lethal technologies, because they are intended to accomplish missions by means other than delivery of direct lethal force, promise to improve our capabilities in this area. Non-lethal technologies potentially have broad application. The operational characteristics associated with individual technologies--range, area of coverage, nature and duration of effect, and delivery systems--vary widely. Since different missions have different requirements, the degree of variation among non-lethal capabilities increases the probability that at least one capability can meet a given mission's requirements. This paper examines the opportunities and limitations which non-lethals offer in the context of operations other than war. It gives special consideration to concepts for crowd control, neutralizing combatants intermingled with non-combatants, and safe area defense.